New to Casa Grande!
Mental health therapy for ages 3 through adult.
In a fun, engaging environment, learn more about yourself or your family in order to find your path in life and build a better future.
You don’t find serendipity by plotting a course for it. You have to set out in good faith, lose your bearings and end up exactly where you are meant to be. — John Barth
Our Approach
We use a combination of play, art and sand tray therapy combined with traditional talk therapy to help you gain insight into yourself and/or your family or children. Through these experiential processes and metaphors, we help you improve communication, reduce anxiety, reduce negative behaviors, work through grief and trauma, and strengthen attachments. We believe in helping the entire family to heal and change their dynamics in order to promote lasting change. We also specialize in helping children, at-risk adolescents and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Our services
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Play Therapy
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Therapy
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Family Therapy
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LGBTQIA+ Support Group (coming soon)
Meet our team
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Julie Skelton, LCSW, Behavior Support Consultant
Specialized Areas:
Parenting/family dynamics
Children ages 3 and older
Adolescents, teens, and young adults
Life stage transitions to adulthood
Anxiety
Depression
Behavioral difficulties
Developmental disabilities
Adoption
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Special Education needs
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Samantha Irey, LMSW
Specialized Areas:
Grief and loss
Caregiver burnout
LGBTQIA+
Autism
Depression
Anxiety
Additional Trainings:
Adlerian-based therapy
Socialization and Relationship education
Play Therapy
Motivational Interviewing
Prepare and Enrich marital therapy
Positive Behavior Interventions
Collaborative Problem Solving
Neurobiological approaches
Trauma treatments
Accelerated Resolution Therapy
Wrap Around services
Strength-based interventions
Julie Skelton, LCSW, Behavior Support Consultant
Julie is currently accepting new clients for afternoons and evenings Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. She works with children ages 3 and up, teens, adults and families through a play therapy lens using games, crafts, sand tray, bibliotherapy and talk therapy.
Julie has two therapy dogs that work with her on a rotating basis. She has Daisy Mae, a happy go-lucky Llasha Apso and Bishon cross with colorful ears and tail and Kenji, a therapy dog in training who is an English Golden Doodle puppy with three legs.
About Me:
I was drawn to social work after years of advocating for my own children with their learning differences. I quickly realized that the standard way of doing things was not working for my family and began thinking outside the box. I began advocating for other families through a state-wide organization in New Mexico and found philosophies that matched my strength-based approach to working with my children and clients. I returned to school and earned my Master’s of Social Work in 2012 at New Mexico State University where those philosophies were being taught. Since becoming a therapist, I have immersed myself in the play therapy realm and found my theoretical home with Adlerian-based treatments that work toward helping clients improve their Crucial C’s in life of feeling capable, having courage, being connected, and feeling like they count. When Crucial C’s are high, people can lead emotionally healthy and happy lives.
I am a proud mother of six children and grandmother of two. My children are a mix of biological and children adopted as teenagers through the State of New Mexico. I have considerable experience with adoption-related struggles and with trauma.
My love of learning about other cultures has led me to host eight exchange students from countries in Europe and Asia and work as a coordinator for Au Pairs coming to the United States. Since 2017 I have done consulting and education in a rural community with individuals from the Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo and have gained a great respect for the Native American culture.
I enjoy playing games and doing crafts and puzzles. I bring those into my session to relieve the tension of focusing on difficult topics and as teaching tools.
I have been in Maricopa since 2022 and love the small community. I am working toward my certification to be a Registered Play Therapist through the Association for Play Therapy. I love working with children, adolescents, teens, young adults and families to help them through difficult times, learn better communication, reduce depression and anxiety, improve their quality of life and learn skills to handle situations with better coping (and behavior) skills.
Additional Training:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Solution-Focused Therapy
Motivational Interviewing
Samantha Irey, LMSW
Sam is currently accepting new patients. She works with teenagers and adults. She is especially interested in working with the LGBTQIA+ community due to her close friendships with many who identify as such. She has witnessed their difficulties due to stigma both within their families and society. She can help individuals struggling with this either in their own lives or struggling to accept it in the ones they love.
Sam graduated from Ohio State University with her MSW in 2019 and has been working in hospice ever since. She is the second generation in her family to become a social worker and to work in the hospice field. She enjoys helping people with life transitions, life reviews, caregiver responsibilities, and burnout and acceptance.
Sam is starting to expand her repertoire to include play therapy techniques to support her current strength-based style.
Daisy Mae
I work with my human mom, Julie, at Serendipitous Path. I am two years old and have worked with her for over one year. I take my job VERY seriously. It is my job to make sure everyone smiles at least once during their visit and feels loved. I am good at my job.
I also help teach skills to children. When I am overloaded, I take a time out and go into my crate. When I am in my crate, everyone has to leave me alone until I am ready to come out again. This helps teach children what to do when they are upset and that when someone asks for a time out, we need to respect that request.
I love to play — catch is my favorite game.
Kenji
My name is Kenji. I was named after a supporting character in the book series Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. In the books, Kenji is the best friend of the main character. He provided comic relief and was not afraid to touch her before she learned to control her powers that would harm others. My human mom, Julie, says that I am a lot like that character. I provide a lot of comic relief and I am not afraid of anything — even when people are upset. My human dad says I should have been named Bing Bong after the character from Inside Out because I am such a barrel of energy and do not listen very well.
I get to work with my mom on the days I behave — I have days where I am still learning my manners and have to stay home. I turned one in November 2024 and have LOTS of puppy energy. Sometimes, I get in trouble for chewing toys that are not mine. My mom uses these times to teach kids lessons about why parents do not always believe them when they promise not to do something again. When I get excited and want to play and the people in the office are done playing, mom uses that to teach kids about personal space and boundaries — she says I need to learn those. I don’t know what she is talking about.
You can see in my photo that I am missing one of my front legs. When I was six months old, I was attacked at a babysitter’s home and the other dog crushed my leg. I had to spend two months in a crate while the doctors tried to get it to heal. Then, I had to go through physical therapy before they realized that the leg could not be saved and needed to be amputated. I spent another month in the crate healing from that surgery. Life has been hard for me, but I kept my loving and happy disposition. I refuse to let that make me afraid and I still love to be around other people and dogs. Mom says I am an inspiration.
